Solder bumps are widely used in the bonding of integrated circuit components. To bond the integrated circuit components, solder bumps are placed between and contacting bond pads of the integrated circuit components. A reflow is then performed to melt the solder bumps. The reflow may be performed by heating the integrated circuit components, for example, using an infrared heater, to a temperature higher than the melting temperature of solder bumps. The solder bumps are then solidified. The reflow of solder bumps are often used in flip-chip bonding.
Solder bumps are often subject to cracking due to thermal cycles. The cracking of solder bumps results in the performance and the reliability of integrated circuits to be degraded. Furthermore, the reflow processes may cause delamination between different layers in the integrated circuit components, particularly between low-k or extreme low-k dielectric layers.